


Not a Princess in a Tower

by Rivulet027



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Isolation, Rapunzel Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 13:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14934857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/pseuds/Rivulet027
Summary: Shuri chafes at being isolated and longs to interact with the outside world.





	Not a Princess in a Tower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sevenofspade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenofspade/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Marvel. It's not my toy box and I'm merely playing. I use Mark Twain's quote on travel and don't own anything to do with that either.

Shuri isn’t a princess locked in a tower and yet the world outside her country remains out of her grasp. From a young age she doesn’t accept this, instead she devours stories that her father brings back, begging to know of his adventures. She trains with the Dora Milaje. Her brother is going to inherit the Black Panther mantel, but the world is a dangerous place and she should be prepared to step into any role her people need. Some of the warriors go on missions to the world outside and she learns slowly to not devour stories, but to ask pointed questions that lead to truths rather than tales woven to teach.

She wants truths. She craves truth and knowledge.

She learns which tools will let her safely touch the world outside, will allow her to share in their experiences, but remain safely ensconced behind walls of secrecy. The world knows she exists, of course, but not that she live in a world of technology that pushes the bounds of advancement. She tries to convince herself she’s not a princess locked in a tower.

She expands on already existing tools and continues to find ways to travel the world without ever leaving home. She experiments with ways to share those tools, let everyone share in the things she is learning. She improves the way her people use the tools of their own country, tools the outside world has yet to dream of, and yet some part of her still itches with the feeling of being trapped. It’s an irritation she tells herself. She’ll have to learn to ignore it.

Then she hears Nakia quote to her brother, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

“Really,” T’challa laughs. “Twain?”

“The words are true no matter who spoke them,” Nakia defends.

They walk away still debating, her brother needling and flirting, even though he has to know Nakia will get what she wants. She will go out and be a part of the world. She will go out and find those she can help. It makes every part of Shuri ache. There are places she wants to visit and things she wants to see with her own eyes. Shuri knows videos and pictures only give a filtered view and not the whole picture. She feels like she’s peeking out at the world with blinders on and she chafes at the idea. She refuses to be a princess locked in a tower, and yet she has responsibilities to her people, traditions she's bound to follow.

Several of her people die in an explosion that the Avengers were trying to contain. Suddenly the world is looking at Wakanda. Shuri gets the sense that her father wants the world to look at the Avengers instead. She tries to tell him that more people would’ve died if the explosion hadn’t been contained, if it had happened at the street level, but it’s pointed out to her that she doesn’t have all the information, she’s not sure she ever will.

When her father dies and her brother comes back with a man that the world has used and broken Shuri locks down her grief, pushes at it and tries to contain it. She instead throws herself into working. If she pauses, if she’s not concentrating on work, then she has to reflect that her father is dead and she could’ve lost her brother. She improves the Blank Panther suit, makes it so that if her brother is caught in a similar explosion he will survive, he has to survive. She weeds out the elements of control that have been planted in Sergeant Barnes mind. She wakes him. She’s going to help him prepare to go back out into the world.

She’s prepared to help him realize he won’t ever be trapped like that again. She’s not prepared for his grief. She’s given him time to rest from the work they’ve done that morning and is returning to work with him again when she finds him curled around himself, rocking. His fingers dig into his hair, tugging as he sobs. Shuri shakes. She’s finally able to interact with someone who is of the outside world, but he’s broken and grieving when she’s trying to be anything but broken and grieving. 

“Sergeant Barnes, you are safe. No one will hurt you here,” she tries to reassure.

“Dead,” he rasps. “All of them. Dead. Steve. I could’ve killed him and not known. So many people dead.”

He moans then, hallow, and strangles back his words, before slamming his hands over his mouth. His knuckles blanch from the way he’s clasping them together. He’s still rocking, shuddering. A strangled howl of grief works it’s way out of his throat, even though he’s clearly trying to hold it back.

Shuri isn’t sure how to react. Does she direct him to get ahold of himself? Does she attempt to sedate him? They’re semi-isolated near the lake, but she could get help easily enough. She turns at the sound of footsteps, expecting one of the children, someone she can send for help. She can’t contain her gasp at the large man standing in the doorway. It takes her a moment to realize he’s Jabari and from there to realize he’s M’Baku. 

Before she can protest he’s brushing past her and approaching Barnes. His footsteps are deliberate. M’Baku crouches near Barnes, says in a voice low and full of sympathy, “I’m going to sit behind you.”

Barnes doesn’t acknowledge M'Baku, he’s so lost in trying to contain his grieving. He’s still rocking, still clutching his hand over his mouth. M’Baku reaches out to touch Barnes’ shoulder, moves deliberately as he shifts till he’s behind Barnes. His legs stretch out on either side of Barnes, as his hands travel down Barnes’ arms until his fingers are brushing Barnes wrists. He presses himself against Barnes' back while murmuring soothing words.

“You’re safe. Let it out. It’ll hurt you more if you hold it in,” M’Baku advises. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

He eases Barnes’ hands away from his mouth slowly, carefully. M’Baku wraps his arms around Barnes, not trapping him, but letting Barnes cling to him and Barnes let M’Baku support him as he sobs.

Shuri stands there feeling useless and uncomfortable. Her own grief aches in her chest. She steps outside the hut. She considers going down to the lake, to give Barnes space. Shuri shakes her head as she realizes she wants it so she can put distance between herself and the man grieving behind her. She sighs and runs a hand over her face. She sits on the ground and waits. She might be needed.

She brushes at the threatening tears in her own eyes and tells herself to stop. If she starts to grieve she won’t stop and she still has so much work to do. She takes a deep breath. She can’t lose her brother like she lost her father. She won’t. She’ll grieve in her own time, when she’s ready. She’s just not ready yet. 

So she works while she waits. M’Baku’s voice is a reassuring low murmur and Barnes’ sobs slow then taper off. It’s several more moments before M’Baku steps out and looks down at her. He sighs, a brief exasperated noise, before he sits on the opposite side of the entrance. Shuri pauses what she’s working on and starts to stand.

“He’s sleeping,” M’Baku stops her. “Let him rest, give him time to process.”

She nods, sits again. She glances over at him, prepared to defend her brother’s decision to bring Sergeant Barnes here.

“Tell your brother that I appreciate being informed. My people offer their protection if Barnes needs it.”

“You’re not going to object?” She regrets the question as soon as it leaves her mouth.

“Your brother thought I would too. I should, on principle, but what the outside world did to that man needs to be remedied and this is the best place for that. They can’t harm him again. Who would look for him here?”

“You think he’s going to hide here, like the rest of us.”

He frowns at her. “It’s the way things are done.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” she protests. “If he wants to go back out into the world he should.”

M’Baku gives her a sardonic smile. “So that’s where your interest lies, a way out of hiding. He leaves, you follow, or at the very least check up on him.”

She glares, not liking how true his words sound in her ears. She hadn’t thought them until now, but now she sees the truth in them. It’s a longing, but probably not reality. She shakes her head, “They would have me send someone instead.”

“They would send you with some Dora,” he contradicts. “Make your brother stay here while you’re gone.”

She can suddenly see the web she’s woven around herself, the way she’s been building her life here is the thing that will keep her here. “No, I’m in charge of too many projects. I would be too busy trying to run the department remotely that I wouldn’t be able to give him my full attention and then might miss something.”

“You run the department?” he says flatly.

She frowns at his tone, then nods.

“I was not aware of that,” he admits.

Shuri rolls her eyes. Why would he be aware of that? The Jabari isolate themselves in their mountain. Still, she’s sure if she points that out he’ll be insulted and he just helped her. She glances back to the hut.

“Go,” he tells her. “I’ll watch over him today.”

It’s the concern and sympathy in his voice that makes her believe him. She frowns at the hut door, then regards him.

“He’s grieving and can use the extra support, but you have much to do as well,” he tries again.

“And you don’t?” she challenges.

His lips quirk upwards, mirth held behind them, as if she’s said something amusing. “No harm will come to him and if I’m needed elsewhere someone else I trust will be sent in my place.”

Should she be more suspicious? Maybe. She decides that she’ll inform Okoye as soon as she can. Nodding her agreement with him Shuri stands and brushes herself off. She thanks him. He nods and leans back against the wall behind him. She regards him silently for a moment longer. He raises his eyebrows in question. She thanks him again and turns to go. She heads back to her tower of technology and wonder with the realization that she’s taken her first steps towards actually touching the outside world.


End file.
